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A Study of Interactions of Asphaltenes in Organic Solvents Using Surface Forces Apparatus

  • Author / Creator
    Xie, Jinggang
  • A Surface Forces Apparatus (SFA) was used in this study to investigate the fundamental surface forces in oil sand processing research. Asphaltene coated surfaces were chosen as the research topic due to the critical role of asphaltenes in oil sands processing, from bitumen extraction, froth treatment to tailings treatment.

    To mimic the real surface state in industry processing, dip-coated asphaltene surfaces were prepared for surface force experiments. In this study, a SFA 2000 was used to determine intermolecular and surface forces of asphaltene in organic solvents (toluene and heptane). The force vs. distance curves, or so-called force profiles obtained provide valuable information on local material properties such as interaction energies, molecular conformation changes of the interacting asphaltene surfaces or films. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to provide complementary information on the surface morphology of the prepared asphaltene surfaces.

  • Subjects / Keywords
  • Graduation date
    Spring 2011
  • Type of Item
    Thesis
  • Degree
    Master of Science
  • DOI
    https://doi.org/10.7939/R3D043
  • License
    This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.